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Ross Robertson wrote:
... executed with great skill ...
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But budô does not teach talking? aikidô does not?
And there are excellent methods which can be used for talking. But none of them teaches how to deliver a punch to the throat. Wich aikidô does.
Why confusing those methods?
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I must necessarily see, explore, and relate my art from my own perspective. It's the only one I have ...
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When I meet a different context of life (be it regional or historical) I find it very interesting to learn about the different perspective of this given context. Getting to know the strange (?correct word?), the different then helps to develop oneself and to understand oneself far better.
And: I think l real learning only works when one trancends ones own perspectiv. Ohterwise you only learns what you already knew.
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... it nevertheless is more Human than it is Japanese.
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Thist, I think, can only be said about certain abstractions you may get from doing aikidô. I also thougth this when I startedt practicing. But the more I get into aikidô, the more it becomes "Japanese". Because the more you get into details, the more you get into the context they come from. At least this is my experience.
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Else its value is limited.
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Sure it is!
It's just like practicing koryû. What "value" does this have?
This is what I tried to say above: The only value it has, is practicing it. That's it.
Why do you think practicing aikidô should save the world, but TSKSR or KSR or ... should not? The talking of peace or love or building society we know from Ueshiba, can be found - more or less - in a lot of other budô aswell.
Sure is it's value limited! Why do you assume it shouldn't?
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Will emphasis on creating strong, independent, self-sufficient individuals automatically lead to a more perfect society?
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I think so. I may be wrong.
But that's simply not important: I don't practice or teach to build a better society. That's just not the aim of my practice in the dôjô. So it doesn't matter at all.
Like I said above: To me this menas just to confuse things. To use the wrong method.
(I myself am a very political and socially engaged person: I did political work for much years. My job helps to build a better society. I just don't need to put these aims into aikidô. I simply practice.)
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If you specifically don't want your aikido to have social relevance, then practice alone.
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Individuals just coming together, working together and going back to their lives does not necessarily create any kind of community.
(Btw. since some time about 50% of my practic is solo practice.)
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... realize the discipline of the dojo is one of relationships.
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Well it is a very hierarchical relationship in the dôjô. It is clearly not a model for the society I want to live in. (I'm saying this albeit I'm the co-head of the hierarchy in our dôjô.)
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The quality of relationships has a direct effect on the quality or your own experience and progress.
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This, I admit, I don't understand: I have practiced in a dôjô, where everybody was good friends. I've practiced in a dôjô where nobody liked each other. I go to seminars, where people simply don't know each other. I know dôjô, which are not so hierarchical structured, like it is usual.
I clearly feel different in different scenarios. But whether I learn some aikidô or not, does clearly not depend on this feeling. I don't have to like the teacher or the other students to progress.
So I don't get your point here.
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If aikido gives you a greater understanding into the nature of relationships and how to do them well, then why would you not practice that outside the dojo?
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?
As I said: I would not like a world that is socially structured like a dôjô.
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If the best aikido has to offer is a cohort of self-aggrandized individuals, enabled by dojo brands and tribal affiliations tending their own gardens and guarding their own turf, then I'm ready to call it a failed experiment.
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In which way do you think aikidô to be an "experiment" that could fail or succeed?
If aikidô is seen like a philosophy or religion or political party to have a certain message how to make the world a better place. And if the experiment would be develop our world or society, it only can fail.
Because aikidô - as I see it so far - simply is not designed for this. It simply does not give us the right methods for this.